Lincoln Electric WELD-PACK 100 PLUS IM546 - Manual (Page 28)

WELD-PAK 100
B-14 LEARNING TO WELD
4. After you strike the arc, practice the correct electri-
cal stickout. Learn to distinguish it by its sound.
5. When you are sure that you can hold the correct
electrical stickout, with a smooth “crackling” arc,
start moving. Look at the molten puddle constantly,
6. Run beads on a flat plate. Run them parallel to the
top edge (the edge farthest away from you). This
gives you practice in running straight welds, and
also gives you an easy way to check your
progress. The 10th weld will look considerably bet-
ter than the first weld. By constantly checking on
your mistakes and your progress, welding will soon
be a matter of routine.
JOINT TYPES AND POSITIONS
Five types of welding joints are: Butt Welds, Fillet
Welds, Lap Welds, Edge Welds and Corner Welds.
See Figure B.19.
Of these, the Butt Weld and Fillet Weld are the two
most common welds.
FIGURE B.19
Butt Welds
Place two plates side by side, leaving a space approx-
imately one half the thickness of the metal between
them in order to get deeper penetration.
Securely clamp or tack weld the plates at both ends,
otherwise the heat will cause the plates to move apart.
See Figure B.20.
Now weld the two plates together. Weld from left to
right (if right handed). Point the wire electrode down in
the crack between the two plates, keeping the gun
slightly tilted in the direction of travel.
Watch the molten metal to be sure it distributes itself
evenly on both edges and in between the plates.
FIGURE B.20
Penetration
Unless a weld penetrates close to 100% of the metal
thickness, a butt weld will be weaker than the material
welded together. In the example shown in Figure
B.21, the total weld is only half the thickness of the
material thus the weld is only approximately half as
strong as the metal.
FIGURE B.21
FIGURE B.22
In the example shown in Figure B.22, the joint has
been welded so that 100% penetration could be
achieved. The weld, if properly made, is as strong as
or stronger than the original metal.
Fillet Welds
When welding fillet welds, it is very important to hold
the wire electrode at a 45° angle between the two
sides or the metal will not distribute itself evenly. The
gun nozzle is generally formed at an angle to facilitate
this. See Figure B.23.
Butt weld Lap weld
Edge weld Fillet weld Corner weld